When Daylight Breaks…The Potter Encounter
by Lissy1
Summary: It's the fourth year at Hogwarts, back in the days of the Marauders and the Potters. How did Lily and James meet? What were they like? If you're a fan of romance and Lily and James, then this is for you! Reviews are much appreciated! :D
1. Chapter 1 The Train Ride

When Daylight Breaks…The Potter Encounter  
  
A few notes before starting:  
""- indicates dialogue, of course  
''- indicates thoughts  
CAPTIALS- indicate stressed words within a phrase/sentence  
"Come ON, Lily, are you there?" Arabella Figg, Lily Evans' best friend, shouted quickly.  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming," muttered Lily, tagging along.  
  
It was a fine day, and students were gathering around the platform at the London train station to get onto the Hogwarts Express. A friendly head bobbed near the crowd, and Lily waved.  
  
"Oy, Sirius! Get over here!" She laughed, seeing Sirius attempt to get over the muggles to join his friends. Sirius Black, a fourth year, was a good friend of Lily's, as they were neighbors.  
  
Black's best friend was James Potter, a dashing young man with unruly black hair that quickly became his trademark, a flair for Transfiguration, full of charm and a love for pranks, and was the current "sweetheart" of the school. Tall and slender at 6'2", he was the Captain of the Quidditch team already, and a fine Seeker. Sirius, a beater on the house team, was known for his infamous jokes and quick charm. Lean and "mean" at 6'4", he was the charmer, and was accustomed to a hoard of girls floundering at his feet. He would usually laugh, hug and charm then, and then take off. Joining them was Remus Lupin, the responsible and kind boy. A bit shorter than the others at a mighty 6', he was the moderator of the group, quick and clever, and considered "impossibly cute" by the fourth year girls. Lastly was Peter Pettigrew, a short and plump boy round off at a mere 5', the poor dear. Though it seemed he was a member of the group simply out of pity, there was always the occasional girl admirer for his diligence and intelligence.   
  
The four boys called themselves the Marauders, a group of loving boys who charmed their way out of the pranks they pulled throughout Hogwarts. The entire student body loved them, loathed them at times, and worshipped them. Having the Marauders against you was agony and despair, for any number of horrid tricks could be pulled upon your instantly! Obviously being WITH them rather than AGAINST them was for the best.   
  
James hopped over a crowd of muggles, landed at Sirius' side, and looked at Lily up and down.  
  
"Uh…are you…Lily? Lily Evans?" He stuttered.  
  
"Why of course I am, James Potter! Who would you expect, Severus Snape?" She said knowingly, smirking.  
  
"No, of course not. I just didn't recognize you. You look so….different," he finished slowly.  
  
The three years before, Lily had been somewhat of a tomboy: minimal makeup for special occasions only, very loose black robes, no added charms or jewelry, and quiet talking. She seemed much more enigmatic now, poised, and lovely. James goggled a bit, and she smiled.  
  
"Sirius helped, isn't that right? He gave me "classes" during the summer on how to act more appropriately. He apparently had no faith in me before," she said playfully and shoved Sirius.  
  
Sirius, getting out of a daze, nodded slightly, and suddenly dropped to one knee, extending his hand.  
  
"My dear Arabella, may I say that you look more radiant that the morning sun," he said in his most charming voice with the infamous mile-wide Sirius Black smile.  
  
Arabella simply smiled cheerfully, accepted his hand, and hit him with a confusion charm. He was staring numbly into nowhere very quickly. James, Arabella and Lily just laughed and continued chatting until it was time to board the train. Remus and Peter soon arrived, carrying bags filled with sweets and grinning.  
  
"We thought that they might not have decent snacks on the train, so we picked up a few bags of Zonko's Never-Ending's before coming," Remus explained.   
  
At hearing his voice, two nearby girls swooned, then stood back upright, and promptly walked over to him. They chatted for a minute, and left, disappointed. Remus tended to ignore the superficial people. Quite frankly, he had his eye set on someone in particular.  
  
"Are you guys coming or not?" Laughed Arabella, grabbing her trunk and bags. With a deft hand she shrunk the trunk with the hard-to-master shrinking charm and, clutching her bag, boarded the train. Lily, a charms expert, followed suit. The Marauders were unable to complete such a task though, and simply hefted their heavy luggage onboard.  
  
While boarding, Lily received quite a few whistles at her new "look". 'Such superficial people,' she thought. 'They only SEE me. Not one of them cares to KNOW me. If only someone cared to know the girl underneath. So, I know I'm considered a "geek" and "bookworm" and "nerd". I know I might not be especially pretty, or witty or clever. I know I'm not popular, or especially talented at something interesting. People ignore me, people tease me. Why doesn't anyone like ME, except a few? Why doesn't anyone try to talk to me and break the shy shell to see the carefree, smirking and happy girl I am! Why does no one except for a few know of my love of peppermint cream ice cream, or my fear of dragons? Why does no one KNOW me?'  
  
Shrugging aside her doubts, she moved towards the back of the train, where she found a large empty compartment. After having laid down her trunk and bags, she sat on the plush red leather and looked out the window. Arabella followed her inside the compartment and let down her bags as she sat next to Lily. Within the context of a few minutes, the Marauders had joined the two girls and everyone was chatting happily.  
  
"Ah...mind if I join you guys?" asked a timid-looking girl. She seemed to be 5'6" tall, with raven-black hair and the complexion of a fairy tale pixie. Her eyes, a brilliant blue, pierced through the group with sharp intensity, rapt worry, and sorrowful brilliance. Her slender body was clad in a black dress, with her hair swept in two silver clips. She was a quiet beauty, and had Remus turn around quickly to hide his blushing face at her innocent radiance.   
  
"I just got here late because of my cat, Cinnabon (one might have wondered where the muggles learned the amazing secret and tempting sweetness of the cinnamon bun! Quite naturally the recipe came from a witch.) and my uncle Sedikus, and just, well, all the compartments are full…might you have an extra seat?" she finished quickly.  
  
Remus nodded vigorously; the others smiled and said their variances of "of course", "why not", and "empty seat, right there."   
  
Lily smiled encouragingly and gestured to a space next to Arabella.  
  
"I'm Lily, this is Arabella, that's Remus, Peter, Sirius and James," Lily introduced everyone, pointing to each one in turn.  
  
"And your name is…?" Sirius inquired. (Sirius delightfully would point out to any by passer that he solidly refused to 'question' but always 'pondered' or 'inquired'.)  
  
"Ah, right," the girl replied, keeping her hands intertwined behind her back and leaning forward and to the side, a shy gesture. "I'm Rebecca."  
  
"Well, nice to meet you, Becca!" Sirius shouted suddenly, grabbed her arm, shook it for what seemed to be hours, then enthusiastically sat back down, earning many-a-look from his friends.  
  
"Has to do with a camp in Albania from second year and some plumeria," he muttered, suddenly downcast. It seemed that ever since Sirius (or Siri, as James often preferred calling him) was prone to sudden mood-swings and bouts of temper upon Arabella's arrival. This could only mean one thing: that Arabella, or Bella, was Sirius' new conquest. Though he thoroughly enjoyed his "fan club" and many female admirers, he had made a habit of having one "conquest" (or, rather, "victim", as suggested by Peter) per year. His success rate with these "conquests" thus far was very low. So low, in fact, that they had resulted in dramatic scenes and wishes to be moved to Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.   
  
As the group was busy staring inquisitively at poor Sirius, James and Remus went into an interesting game of Exploding Snap, Lily and Bella started writing lists of what they wanted to do this year at Hogwarts, and Becca began reading a very thick novel.   
  
'Well, I was just trying to be FRIENDLY…' thought Sirius. It was just that she reminded him so much of Maura. He tried to shake away his unhappy thoughts of Maura. Maura was from a long time ago after all, two years! But he couldn't very well forget her, and now here came Becca, practically her duplicate. James caught Sirius' eye, understood his best friend's serious state, and offered a comforting look and smile. Sirius smiled back, thankful to have such a wonderful and understanding friend.  
  
"So, who's winning Prongs? Bet you Remus wins this round, and the next, but loses on the third," Sirius said suddenly, rubbing his hands together and eyes glowing with a twinkle.  
  
Arabella noticed this twinkle and quickly averted her eyes back to her list, but not before having another quick glance. 'My, what deep eyes he has…and when he has that little twinkle in them, he's being mischievous, but I love it…' she mused, then stopped herself. What in Merlin's name was she thinking?!?! Of COURSE Sirius' "twinkle gaze" was nice, but she hardly knew the guy. They were just really, really good friends, that was all. There was nothing more than a special friendship. Sighing and chastising herself, she absentmindedly wrote "#14. Become more to Sirius than a friend" on her list without noticing, then tucked it away in her robes.   
  
Meanwhile, James was unhappily paying Sirius his dues for winning their bet. Remus, looking quite content with having won so much, sat back.   
  
"Anything off the trolley, darlings?" asked the witch who pulled a cart of snacks and sweets through the train. James, Remus, Peter (who had just come back from his brother's compartment) and Sirius all grinned, reached into their pockets, pulled out hands full of coins and shouted simultaneously, "WE'LL TAKE THE LOT!" The girls just smirked and sat back, awaiting their chance to sneak away a sweet or two.   
  
Finally, the train ride came to an end, and the whole compartment, now with everyone dressed in their school robes, gathered their belongings and stepped off. With one turn of the head, they could see the majestic castle with its cresting balconies, black elegance and crashing waves. 'So, another year at Hogwarts," thought Lily Evans. 'I wonder what will happen.'  
  



	2. Chapter 2 The Feast

  
  
Chapter TWO:  
  
The students all gathered around the gigantic mahogany doors that would lead to the Great Hall. Inside would take place the Sorting, a process in which all the new first year students would be "sorted" into the four houses of Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Lily, Arabella, Becca, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter were all Gryffindors, clever and brave, as well as extremely loyal. However, the Marauders were the pranksters of the school and would not let their presence this year go unknown. Naturally, they had planned a debut to take place at the ceremony that evening. The four grinned, and James mentioned to Lily that they would be "having a ball" later on, a comment at which Peter scoffed silently.   
  
After sitting at the Gryffindor table for what seemed to be ages listening to "Hardorn, Jimmy" and "Blaelyn, Marla" and so forth, the group was anxious for the feast that would traditionally come after the Sorting. Finally, Professor Dumbledore nodded to the Sorting Hat (an old and somewhat grumpy hat that would be placed on the head of each student to "sort" them into their respective houses) was placed on a silver platter and led away from the Hall. Dumbledore rose, nodded, yelled, "sonorus!" to amplify the sound of his voice and began speaking to the students and teachers.  
  
"This feast marks the beginning of another marvelous and extraordinary year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he began. "I look forward to seeing you all accomplish great things. I must remind you that Mr. Filch insists that no students go to the third, fourth, or seventy-eighth corridors. I must also tell you all that the Forbidden Forest is off-limits to all students except those in the class of Care of Magical Creatures, year Seven Advanced. We will proceed with out usual Yule Ball over the winter holidays and the house cup race as well as quidditch. Naturally, the first match is in two months, Gryffindor versus Slytherin. Now that your stomachs are all rumbling with anticipation, let the feast begin!" he yelled and clapped his hands. But the Marauders had been hard at work already, and instead of covering the tables with food, the long mahogany tables were suddenly swept aside to the back of the room, and white lights shined from the ceiling. Balloons fell, confetti came, gigantic cakes and sweets assembled themselves, and a dancing platform appeared. Music began playing and the food for the feast appeared on the tables in the far back. All the students were suddenly wearing their dress robes they had tucked in their trunks upstairs, and were chatting eagerly.  
  
"It seems the Marauders have changed our traditional plans without even notifying me of the celebrations!" said Dumbledore, shaking his head, but nodding to Sirius. This was an "okay" sign to go ahead with the ball.  
  
"I told you we'd be having a ball," James whispered to Lily as he took her hand and led her away from the rest of the group. "Would you like to dance with me?" he asked, staring into Lily's green emerald eyes, sinking into them.   
  
Her heart raced and she thought the entire school must be hearing her gasp. James, the best friend of her good friend, was asking her to dance? Why, they had known each other for six years (introduced to each other two years before Hogwarts by Sirius) and yet he had never said more to her than conversation about school, or pranks or such! Now he wanted to dance? Well, she had been longing for this moment. And she had been taking dance lessons, so maybe she could even impress the bloke!   
  
"Of course," she said graciously, curtsied, and took his hand. It was warm, slightly damp, and smelled like him: mint leaves with a touch of cinnamon. He nodded, and swept her onto the floor. Arabella and Becca sighed.   
  
"Oh, I see! You long to dance as well, fair maiden! Well, fear not, for I, Sirius the Wonderful, am here to give you your heart's desire and sweep you into a rush of gold!" yelled Sirius, delighted, as he suddenly grabbed Bella's hand and swung her onto the dance floor. Shrugging and laughing, she accepted and began to sway with him. Becca shrank back into her seat. She didn't know this group too well, as she tended to be very shy. But a shadow appeared over her head and she looked up. A very jittery Peter was standing by her.  
  
"Ah, you, uh…wouldn't care to dance, would you? I mean, I know I'm nowhere near the dancer James is," he stuttered, looking over to where James was gracefully twirling Lily around and dipping her back, "or the charmer Sirius is," he muttered, glancing over to where Bella was laughing at yet another witty comment Sirius had made, "or as clever as Remus is," his eyes darted over to where Remus was engaged with a girl in a chess match, chatting happily and drinking punch, "but, well…I do alright, and…well, WOULD you want to dance with me, Becca?" he finished impishly.   
  
Becca suddenly looked so happy. She had wanted to talk to Peter ever since she saw him at the train station, those blue eyes that were as soft as a petal but delightful as an icicle.  
  
"Why now, Peter, why would a girl like me refuse such a wonderful guy like you? I think dancing sounds fabulous," she said and extended her hand. Peter, who broke into a large grin, took her hand and they began to sway as well.  
  
"So, how do I do?" James whispered in Lily's ear as he twirled her around to the left and caught her in his arms before they continued swaying back and forth.   
  
"Very, very well," she mumbled before resting her head back onto his shoulder, and sighed contently. 'Wow,' she mused, 'such a wonderful dancer, a charmer, smart, sweet… what more could I ask for? The only thing is, why now? Why hasn't he ever talked to me or done anything like this BEFORE?' she wondered, then bit the thought back. 'It's the NOW that counts,' she told herself, 'and that's what I should enjoy at this moment! It's not every day the heartthrob of the school is inviting you to dance to a ball that he arranged against the rules on the first day of school!' and with that she sighed deeply, happily.  
  
'Why didn't I ever notice those green, green eyes before?' James wondered as he swayed with Lily. She looked so lovely, he thought, in her bottle green dress robes with white satin trimming, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder as they danced slowly. Like a princess, he decided, she's like a princess in an Emerald Kingdom. 'Someday, sometime soon, I'll get to know her better,' he promised himself. He had a feeling he'd want to get to know her very well very soon.   
  
James snapped his fingers softly and as Lily opened her eyes, she saw they were outside.   
  
"What…where…when…what?!?" she exclaimed, lost.  
  
"We're just outside, that's all. I thought you might want to go for a walk. There's a garden that's hidden over there with the most gorgeous flowers," he said softly, and took her hand. She then began to walk with him, enjoying the slight breeze, the rustle of leaves in the cherry blossom trees, the aura of a lovely evening. They could still hear the slow music playing inside the castle. Lily wondered if anyone was worried at their sudden disappearance. James, seemingly reading her thoughts, nodded towards the castle and said, "It's alright. Sirius knows we're out here, so Bella, Remus, Peter and Becca do too, of course. Word of mouth you know," he grinned at her.   
  
'Gosh, I LOVE that grin,' Lily realized with a jolt. Wait, what was she THINKING? She hardly knew this boy, this James Potter. 'Then if I practically don't know him, why do I feel like I've known him for forever? Why do I feel like I could tell him anything, do anything for him?' she asked herself, confused at her own feelings.   
  
Right then, the two stepped into a garden, and Lily cried and ran over to the trellis.  
  
"It's so beautiful," she gasped, breathless. "So, so beautiful…" She murmured, stroking the flowers softly, smelling their delicious perfumes. James just watched in delight. Ah, if someone had told him a few months ago that he would be in the special Ministry Reserved Exotic Garden at Hogwarts with Lily Evans and without a care in the world except delighting over Lily smelling flowers, he would have slapped him or her.   
  
He suddenly had an idea, and on impulse, walked over to the pond in the back of the garden. He reached over and picked a white lily, with a soothing scent. Cradling it, he walked over to Lily, and placed the flower in her hair. She thanked him, and smiled.   
  
'Oh, he just gave me a flower, a lily…' she thought to herself giddily. 'A lily for Lily'… Just when James was taking her arm to hug her, a bell rang from inside the castle, signaling it was time to go upstairs to the dormitories. They shrugged, and walked back to the castle, though no longer hand in hand. Lily felt shy, and James felt awkward.   
  
Inside the castle, the tales rearranged themselves, and everyone gathered their things. The prefects pushed to the front of the lines and began to lead the students up to their Houses.   



	3. Chapter 3 Going to Hogsmeade

Chapter THREE:  
  
Lily and James hurried back inside the castle, and slipped inside inconspicuously. Sirius however saw James and raised a conspiratorial eyebrow. James just smiled, mouthed a "I'll tell you later" and began herding first years.  
  
"Right this way, guys and gals. I'm James, one of your prefects, and this is Lily, your other prefect." Lily blushed but quickly recovered before anyone could notice. The two lead the students upstairs.  
  
"Ooh, can we play hide and seek Mr. James? Can we touch THIS photo? Ooh, what's THAT? Hey, where does THIS lead?" Sirius asked, playing the frantic first year. This was his idea of fun, interestingly enough. Arabella, who had grown tired of this routine every year, shoved him playfully and Sirius was suddenly occupied with keeping himself on the right side of the railing rather than annoying James.   
  
Finally, the group arrived upstairs and stopped in front of the Fat Lady, the portrait that guarded Gryffindor House since its first year opening. After having given it the password, Lily waved everyone in and show everyone to their dormitories. The Marauders, Lily, Arabella, and Becca had all stayed downstairs. The seventh years had scoffed at this "trying to take over the common room, those fourth years," and had headed upstairs.   
  
After a few games of Wizard's Chess, they all said their goodbyes and headed to their rooms. As Lily left, James turned around for one last look, and gasped sharply at how her hair, now undone, fell into fiery curls down her back, pouring over her shoulders. Urging himself to stop ogling her hair, he ran up.   
  
As soon as she got upstairs, Lily was forced onto her bed, and Becca and Bella sat down next to her, holding Lily down.  
  
"Okay missy, where did you and James go off to? We saw you, what happened? How did it go?" Becca asked.   
  
"Yeah, tell us about the whole thing," Becca said impatiently. "We want a FULL and DETAILED account of this evening's events!"  
  
Lily then told them of everything that had happened, as she seemingly had no choice. By the time she finished her story, the two other girls were sighing dreamily.  
  
"He got you a lily?"  
  
"Led you outside to a secret garden…"  
  
"Sounds like a fairy tale type of thing to me!"  
  
"How sweet! I wonder what he'll do next?"  
  
"Oh, stop it you two," Lily laughed and hit them with a pillow. Bella and Becca shrieked, got their own pillows, and threw them back. Sirius, who heard the commotion, jumped in, transfigured some dust to pillows and joined in. Soon, James arrived as well (Peter and Remus were fast asleep already) and threw a pillow directly at Lily's nose, hitting dead center.  
  
"Oh, you're going to pay for that," she said playfully, transfigured her potions textbook into an enormous pillow and ran after him. James dashed into the common room, looking for an escape. Upstairs everyone else was laughing, betting on whether Lily would get James or not.   
  
"Run, run like the wind, James! Oh look, you're running from a GIRL! Haha, look at him go!" Sirius yelled happily, finding this turn of events quite entertaining.   
  
"Hey, Lily…that was an accident, really…no big thing…I didn't mean to hit you!" James exclaimed while backing into the wall. Lily just shook her head side to side, smirking, and advanced, pillow in hand. James hit the wall, and stood there, waiting.  
  
"Say your last words, James Potter," Lily teased.  
  
"Alright," he said thoughtfully, grabbed her arm, and kissed her on the cheek. Lily promptly dropped the pillow, astonished. As she raised her hand to her check, her face burning, James grinned and dashed back upstairs. Lily blushed furiously, grabbed the pillow, and ran to her room. Five minutes later, she was fast asleep.  
  
The first week passed by as any week would at Hogwarts. Breakfast in the Great Hall with owls pouring in and dropping the daily mail; charms class in the morning, followed by double potions, transfiguration, lunch, history of magic, care of magical creatures, divination, dinner, and free time. Each day they went about the same routine, and everyone day James thought of asking Lily out, but shying away. Every day Lily's friends encouraged her to say something to James, but she refused, being shy as always.  
  
At long last, Saturday arrived, and Professor McGonagall informed the Gryffindors that a trip to Hogsmeade had been planned.   
  
"Okay James, I swear on Merlin's wand, if you don't ask her to go with you to Hogsmeade, I'll…I'll…I'll throw away the Marauder's Map! I'm so tired of seeing you stare at her day after day and just mooning over her! If you want to go out with her, then for Merlin's sakes, ASK HER OUT, you idiot! Get it over with! I've never seen you like this before, especially not over a GIRL! And you usually don't hesitate to ask them out either. So, GET ON WITH IT!" cried Sirius, exasperated at James' shyness.  
  
James gasped, stared blankly at his friend, then nodded. "I guess if not now, then when, huh? I'll go ask her now," he said and slipped out of the room.  
  
Lily had been putting on her blue robes and just finished twisting her hair into a double French braid when the door opened a bit, with James' head peering in.  
  
"Hey, Lily, umm…mind if I see you for a minute?" he asked timidly.  
  
Becca and Bella, who had been looking around in Bella's closet for the right robes to wear, stifled a laugh as they saw Lily's red blushing face.  
  
"S-s-shu-sure!" she stammered, and James sighed in relief, took her hand, and led her outside.  
  
"I was wondering if you might want to go to Hogsmeade with me? We could have a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks and do some shopping…" he said slowly, looking into her eyes. His right hand was behind his back, with crossed fingers holding a clover for good luck. 'Come on Lily, say yes, say yes,' he chanted in his head.  
  
"I…I'd love to, James," Lily said, blushing madly again. 'My, of all the blokes out there, this one has me blushing twice a day, it seems!' she thought.  
  
"Great! I'll meet you back here in a bit, then, Okay? Okay!" he said, exhilarated, and went back up to his dorm. When Lily arrived back upstairs, she was bombarded with questions.  
  
"Gosh, you'd think I was a spy for you two or something, always having to say exactly what happens when I meet with James!" she whined. Becca and Bella just grinned.  
  
"Aw, I knew this was coming," they said after Lily recounted what happened downstairs.  
  
"I've been waiting for him to say that, see Bella."  
  
"Right, well, after what we talked about…"  
  
"How sweet, how nice!"  
  
"Bet you he buys Lily a gift, eh Lils?"  
  
"GUYS, STOP IT!" Lily screamed. "He just asked me to Hogsmeade, that's all! It's no big thing, I'm sure people go together all the time.   
  
A few hours later, all the Gryffindors (year three and up) were boarding "transportation" (a gigantic flying car) to Hogsmeade. Lily sat by James, Bella by Sirius, Becca by Peter, and Remus was lying down across two seats, asleep as usual. While Sirius was busy pulling dandelions out of his hat for Bella, James was talking to Lily about his past summer, and Peter was just mumbling something about poetry to Becca, who looked delighted.   
  
"And then we went over to Snape's house by Floo Powder, dropped some fireworks (the muggle kind, of course) in his fireplace and watched them go! One of them even picked up his mother's casserole! It was really something," James laughed hysterically. A few students looked over quizzically, wondering what this insane boy was laughing so hard about. Lily laughed along.  
  
"THAT'S a great way to make friends, James," she said between gasps of laughter. "Of course, I doubt you'd want SEVERUS as your friend!"  
  
One can imagine the rest of the conversations on the ride. After 46 grueling minutes of flying, the car arrived at the Hogsmeade entrance.   
  
"Okay students, we'll meet back here in 5 hours let's say, all right?" Professor McGonagall began. "Be sure to…" but before she could finish, Sirius grabbed Arabella and ran off with her, yelling a quick, "See you later Prof McGonagall!". All the Gryffindors laughed, while McGonagall fumed silently. She then finished her "speech" (being sure to include emergency exits, a long list of "not to do's" and so forth. All the students were rolling their eyes, naturally.) and everyone walked in.  
  
James and Lily went to several shops in the first few hours, stopping by Quality Quidditch Supplies (Hogsmeade branch), All Things of Outland Wizardry, Zonko's Joke Shop, Honeydukes Sweet Shop, and lastly stopped outside the Three Broomsticks. James ushered Lily in and they sat at a booth near the middle-back. Madame Rosmerta, the sole waitress of the TB walked over armed with a pad and never-ending-ink pen. When she saw the two together she smiled, thinking, 'finally, that James Potter has found a DECENT girl to go out with. Usually he just takes one look and I never see them again. Lily is a good choice though,' she thought to herself and nodded approvingly, though the nod went unnoticed as no one was watching for it. "Hello James, Lily! How are you two today, and what can I get you?" She asked cheerfully.  
  
"Hi M'dme R'merta! We're fine, just enjoying this sunshine," James grinned. "Might you get us two butterbeers, please?" he asked while smiling, turning on his famous charm.   
  
"Of course, coming right up," was the reply and James sat back in his seat.  
  
"So, are you having fun Lils?" he asked, still grinning widely. Lily smiled back and twirled a tendril of hair in her right hand. "Oh, of course I am! That Honeydukes chocolate was really something. And how you and Sirius managed to play a joke on Zonko's owners themselves is past me…" she laughed.   
  
"Here you go dears, two butterbeers," Said Madame Rosmerta, who brought them their drinks with an invisible note to James that wrote "on the house, thank goodness for your turn of better judgment- M'dme R.".   
  
While the two were enjoying their drinks and delighting in the warn ooze of it, Lily dropped her straw and bent down to retrieve it. As she came back, James helped her up, and stared into her eyes. She gasped, at a sudden loss for air. He held her steady, and then kissed her on the check again. As always, Lily blushed deeply before leaning back into her chair. A few elderly witches in a booth nearby sighed and conversed a bit about "that young dashing charmer with the striking young lady over there."   
  
The rest of the day was rather uneventful, and routinely Lily recounted the Hogsmeade trip to Becca and Bella. What she didn't tell them, was that when she had bent down to get her straw she had seen something shimmer under the table. It had been a hologram of a shining Lily with a note that said, "To Lily, Love James." She had taken a mental picture of it, and looking back, sighed.   
  
"Aw, kissed you again, Lily!"  
  
"Seriously, that is so sweet! No, I said seriously, not Siriusly, Bella!"  
  
"I bet you he asks you to the Yule Ball!"  
  
"I can see the wedding already…"  
  
"Ooh, have you picked out a dress yet? It's in three months you know!"  
  
Lily just bit back another sigh, nodded as usual, and went to sleep. She was having a nice dream about the Yule Ball and James Potter's arms around her waist as they danced to the music…  



	4. Chapter 4 The Yule Ball

Chapter FOUR:  
  
The next three months flew by in a whirl. The teachers became more and more obsessed daily with preparing their students for midterm exams, and began to assign incredulous amounts of essays every night. The Gryffindor common room grew quiet as even Sirius Black would sit down to chomp on a pencil thoughtfully while researching Care of Dragons in Albanian Forests for his essay. The days elongated themselves so much that the students wondered if someone had put a Slowing Charm on the entire school. Owl mail wasn't plentiful, meals seemed dull, and comfortness appeared to be inadequate.   
  
Upstairs in the fourth year boys' room in Gryffindor, the Marauders were very, very busy.   
  
"So, how are we going to go about doing this?" Remus asked while rubbing his hands together, excited. THIS was going to be fun, but how would they ever accomplish it?  
  
"Well, we're going to need lots of charms, and I got this book out of the restricted section in the library earlier," Sirius thought out loud, leaning back on his bed.  
  
"If we're going to turn the Yule Ball into a real full-scale ball on an ICED POND in the middle of the grounds, OUTSIDE, far away from the Great Hall, with all these improvisations, we're going to get into so much trouble…" Peter moaned.  
  
"Not to mention what we plan for the Slytherins, and the band, and Severus Snape's textbooks flying around being eaten by beavers," Remus added, grinning widely.  
  
This resulted in another long and drawn-out moan from Peter, who shrank back onto a chair with his face in his hands.   
  
"And, of course, Dumbledore's…closet change," added Sirius, smirking.   
  
"Okay guys, let's get to work," exclaimed James, unable to take this suspense anymore. And so the Marauders began to plan, plot and collect. They raided cupboards for ingredients, studied charms for effectiveness and kept a lookout: this surprise was a SECRET.  
  
…  
  
"I think he's doing this for Lily. This whole thing was HIS idea, after all," Sirius told Remus a week later.  
  
"That's true. I really think that they're going to be together for a while. James has never been this serious about a girl before, and especially not one that we actually like!" Remus said thoughtfully.  
  
"I bet you he does SOMEthing at the ball. He might give her something special, or…" Sirius started.  
  
"Shh!" Remus cried, startling Sirius. "Who says he doesn't have a listening charm in here? And who's to say he isn't under his cloak! We shouldn't be discussing this here, or now. Besides, it's fairly obvious what'll happen. Becca agrees," Remus finished. Becca, who had been working with Remus lately on Divination, was a true Seer and had already foretold what would happen between Lily and James. However, she had only told Peter and Remus about this, as it wasn't quite what people expected. The two had been told under oath of utmost secrecy for all cases. Though Remus had looked utterly surprised and sorrowful, Peter had twitched nervously in his seat, and had promptly run off in the opposite direction after hearing of this news.   
  
"Oh, bug off Moony," Sirius finished, impatient. He wanted his best friend to get on with this. He was taking things might slowly with Lily.   
  
"Have it your way, Padfoot," muttered Remus before ducking his head back into his charms textbook.  
  
…  
  
"Students, listen. Listen! Sirius Black, did you hear a word I just said in the past half hour?" asked Professor McGonagall while tapping her foot impatiently and pointing to Sirius.  
  
Sirius, who had put an automatic refreshing memory charm on himself earlier that day nodded and repeated McGonagall's entire speech in less than a minute. She looked surprised, but went on with the lesson. After assigning bookwork for the holidays, the last class before Winter Break was finally over. The whole class shared a collective sigh of relief, smiled, and disemboweled the door on their way out.   
  
"Do you think this semester could have been any longer?!?" Sirius exclaimed, so excited for school to be over that me levitated himself around the school. Everyone found this quite amusing until a seventh year dropped an anvil on his head from above. Sirius ducked away just in time before being squashed to smithereens. …  
  
"Hey guys, it looks really nice outside," Becca sighed, looking out the dormitory window.  
  
"NICE?!? It's cold, and there's snow everywhere, and snowflakes landing on your nose! What makes you think that's nice?" Arabella exclaimed, her head protruding from the bathroom door where she was busily curling her hair. According to Bella, there was a certain "hair-care" for each season. Autumn was straight long hair; winter was curly medium-length hair; spring was strait medium-to-short length hair and summer was short-and-bouncy wavy hair. Apparently curly hair was best to wear with winter snowcaps and ear muffs.  
  
"You know 'Bell, Becca has a point. It'd be fun to take a walk around the grounds and see how everything looks in full-blown winter now that fourth years can go outside whenever we like for the holidays," mused Lily.  
  
Becca grinned, and supported this idea. "Yes, let's! It sounds like heaps of fun to me, and maybe we'll even meet some Marauders outside," she teased.  
  
This earned her a petty slap on the arm from Lily and a glare from the girl in the bathroom.  
  
A few minutes later the three were wearing their muggle winter clothes, complete with curly hair (at Arabella's insistence) kept under past-colored ski caps and ear muffs. The three walked outside, enjoying the cool breeze and tiny icicles on the great trees.  
  
"I love it how no one's here," said Lily out loud, her voice echoing in the white atmosphere. "It's so deserted, so amicable, so…"  
  
"So lovely?" said a voice nearby. Lily jumped, turned around, and saw the Marauders, also equipped in winter gear, heading her way. Peter, who was wearing a few too many layers, was busily fanning himself. Sirius was already gathering snowballs to throw, and Remus was attempting to make a snowman.   
  
A "swiiiiiiiiiish!" sounded in the distance, and Arabella was suddenly knocked to the ground by a white flurry snowball.  
  
"ooh, Sirius Black, you're not getting away THIS time! You just got snow all over my new ear muffs!" She exclaimed, petting her ice-blue earmuffs, and grinning in a smirking way. She gathered a huge snowball and threw it with a plentiful force. (Arabella would practice arm movements and exercises at home for stage-slapping…unfortunately for some, Arabella always believed that stage-slapping was not "real" if it lacked force) Sirius was thrown to the ground instantly with a "whoooop!" and everyone else laughed hard. A few snowflakes clung to his nose as he clamored up, gathering more snow. As they exchanged blows again, a snowball hit Remus' snowman, causing him to take it apart and begin throwing snowballs as well. Before long, everyone was joining in and shrieking happily.  
  
"Take that!"  
  
"Hah, can't catch me now, can you?"  
  
"You think THAT little thing's going to get me? Hey, hold on there…no need to make it so big…"  
  
"Watch out!" Seven voices cried out at once as Professor McGonagall stepped outside to enjoy the view. The snowball towered over her head and shot forward menacingly. McGonagall barely had time to react before all the snow dumped itself over her head. However, while the students were contemplating what kind of horrific detentions she would assign them, the Professor simply stood up, shook off her snow, and turned around. The Marauders, Lily, Arabella and Rebecca all sighed in relief.  
  
"Hah! She probably was too scared to do something to us. I bet you she doesn't want people to hear about how we got her, right in the face!" crowed Sirius.  
  
"Uhh…Sirius? I think you spoke too soon…" Remus said nervously, pointing to a snowball the size of their dormitory, hurling itself towards them at full speed.  
  
"Oh," said Sirius sadly before they were all covered 12 feet deep in snow.   
  
"Hey, that was fun!" said someone underneath the snow. However, due to the mass of white snowflakes it sounded more like "eh, fat vus un!"  
  
The group, after nearly 20 minutes of kicking and dragging, finally were able to pull themselves out and go up to their dorms snow-free.   
  
…  
  
The next week was that of the Yule Ball. On Monday, at breakfast, Arabella nudged Lily and pointed in James' direction.  
  
"Hey, are you two planning to go to the dance together? You'd certainly make a cute couple…" she teased.  
  
Lily simply sighed and looked over at James, who was sitting at the other end of the table with Sirius, whispering about who-knew-what.  
  
"If he asks me, then of course I'll say yes. I just would rather he ask me than anyone else…" Lily replied, biting her lip.  
  
"Oh, I'm sure he will, Lils. He hasn't even bothered to notice another girl exists all year long, thanks to you. And I catch him staring at the back of your head in double potions ALL the time," Becca added, nodding in James' direction. "There's no question that if he goes, he's going with you!"   
  



End file.
